


heaven’s in your arms, where i know i’m safe

by northernstars



Category: The Haunting of Bly Manor (TV)
Genre: 3+1, F/F, Happy ending-ish?, Hurt/Comfort, Mostly Fluff, They deserved better, it’s sad but only a little bit, like for real as happy as it can be with the show ending the way it did, not beta-ed i die like dani, soft, they’re so in love it’s disgusting, too soon?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:01:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26951065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/northernstars/pseuds/northernstars
Summary: The years after Bly are riddled with a deep underlying fear. A fear that, just like the presence of Viola, lingers in the back of her mind, ready to strike at any given moment. Somehow Jamie always seems to know when the fear gets too much, when Dani gets too locked away in her own head and does her best to pull her out again. And Dani loves her all the more for it.Years after Jamie had to leave the love of her life lying at the bottom of a pond, Dani returns the favour.
Relationships: Dani Clayton/Jamie
Comments: 49
Kudos: 369





	heaven’s in your arms, where i know i’m safe

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this because the ending of the show made me sad, enjoy!

_i_

  
The reflection in the glass of the shop door makes her stop mid step. It’s not the first time she’s seen her since Bly, not even the first time in this particular window. But it still makes her gasp. She steps back, suddenly paralysed with fear. 

In the flower shop, Jamie is standing at the counter, her back to Dani who is still motionless at the door. Someone bumps into her from behind, and it’s as if the whole world comes back to her at once. She mumbles out an apology but the person is long gone. 

The door rattles as she opens it and Jamie turns towards her. When her eyes fall on Dani she smiles happily. Then she seems to do a double take and her smile disappears. 

Dani knows she probably looks like she’s seen a ghost, which is kind of true now that she thinks about it. She tries to form a smile but her lips won’t move. 

“Dani?” 

Dani looks away, biting the inside of her cheek so she won’t burst out into tears. It doesn’t work very well. 

“What’s wrong, love?” Jamie sounds worried and Dani hates that she made her worried. It’s nothing really. It’s nothing. 

If she repeats that to herself enough times it she might believe it. 

Dani flinches as Jamie puts a hand on her arm, taking a step back without thinking about it. 

“I’m sorry. I’m alright. I’m-” 

Jamie pulls her into a hug and Dani breaks. Tears roll down her cheeks and she feels like she can’t breath. She sobs into Jamie’s shoulder and clings to her like she might disappear if she doesn’t hold on tight enough. 

Jamie holds her through it, rubbing a comforting hand down Dani’s back. 

When Dani finally feels like she won’t crumble anymore, she rights herself, untangling from Jamie’s embrace. She doesn’t go too far though, still not entirely sure Jamie won’t vanish into thin air. It must show on her face because Jamie brings her closer again, wipes her tears away and presses their foreheads together. 

“It was her again, wasn’t it?”

Dani nods.

“Want me to kill her for ya?” Her tone is joking but Dani knows she would do it in a heartbeat if she could.

“D’you think you could take her?” 

“Oh, absolutely. Have you seen my arms? Gardening for years has done them some good.”

Dani laughs and feels a weight lift from her shoulders. God she loves this woman.

“Want to close the shop for today? Go home and cuddle up in front of the telly?”

“That actually sounds wonderful,” Dani sighs, “Thank you.” 

“Don’t mention it. It’s not like we’re gonna get a lot of customers at,” she glances at the clock, “four in the afternoon, anyway.”

Jamie gets to work closing up and Dani watches her, feeling a lot better than she did ten minutes ago. The day after Jamie puts bright green curtains on the glass door, telling everyone it just looks better this way. 

Dani knows it’s because of her, or better yet, _for_ her. And that night she hugs Jamie tighter. Jamie seems to understand what she means, because she doesn’t let go either. 

_ii_

  
The water is warm around them and smelling sweetly of lavender. The bubbles have disappeared a while ago but the water is still hot so neither was willing to get out of the tub just yet. 

Dani is nestled against Jamie’s chest, her eyes closed as Jamie runs her fingers through her hair. She is humming softly, some cheesy pop song they’d heard on the radio while cooking dinner earlier. Dani can feel her eyes slipping closed, exhausted after a long day, finally able to relax in her lovers arms. 

The dream comes suddenly, out of nowhere it seems. 

She’s back at Bly, the night dark and foggy as the Manor looms over her. Flora is screaming, calling out for Miles. She tries to argue, ties to pull Flora along. It all feels so real. Too real. 

When she turns there’s a hand around her throat, pushing her down, dragging her along. The hand is tight, cold and wet and Dani can’t escape. Can’t move. 

Flora screams, high and loud and surely someone will hear her. Surely they will come and help. 

But no one comes and the woman keeps dragging her along. Through the gravel, over the doorstep and up the stairs. All the while Dani fights, fights to breathe. She can hear herself wheezing, unable to get enough air into her lungs. Panic races through her, muddling her thoughts until the only thing left is _escape_! 

The hand tightens and her vision blacks out. She realises she’s going to die here. Her limbs stop moving, she stops fighting. 

Darkness takes her. 

She wakes with a jolt, water sloshing over the edge of the bathtub as she sits up abruptly. She still feels the icy hand on her neck and tries desperately to claw it away. She can’t breathe, blacks spots appearing at the edge of her vision. She vaguely registers a voice calling her name, but it’s like her ears are plugged with mud. 

She can’t see, can’t hear. Can only feel the phantom fingers pressing down on her windpipe. She gasps for air, her own hands flailing around as they can’t find anything around her neck. Then why can’t she _breathe_? 

“Dani!” 

Suddenly the other voice is loud and clear. _Jamie_.

Jamie wasn’t there, not in her dream and not at Bly. Then why can Dani hear her? Two hands grab hold of her arms, push them down so she can’t reach her neck. 

“Breathe, Dani. Breathe with me.” There is her voice again. 

Dani tries to breath, and even though it takes her a while, eventually the breathing gets easier and she stops fighting the hands on her arms. Her vision clears. 

And there is Jamie, naked with suds on her shoulders and suddenly Dani remembers where she is. In the bathtub in their apartment in London. She’s _home_. 

She takes a shuddering breath, shoulders sagging as she feels all her energy leave her body.

“You back with me, Poppins?” 

“Yeah, I’m sorry,” she hiccups, “I don’t know what came over me.”

“You had a nightmare, happens to the best of us.” Jamie is quiet for a while, then she adds, “Bly?” 

Dani nods, too exhausted to speak. But she knows she doesn’t have to because Jamie understands. Can see right through her. 

Jamie gathers her back in her arms for a moment before getting out of the tub. She grabs a towel and holds it out, and Dani steps into it without a word. Jamie leads her to their bedroom and sets her down, grabbing her pyjama and tucking her in. 

“Give me a minute.” 

Dani lies still, the remnants of the dream still flashing before her eyes. The bed dips behind her as Jamie gets in and pulls her close. 

“I’m going to read for a bit, want me to read to you?” Her voice soft, understanding. 

“Yes, please.” If Dani sounds a little desperate, neither of them mention it. 

Jamie read to her, for an hour and then two. Dani eventually falls asleep, and within the safety of Jamie’s arms, has no more nightmares.

_iii_

  
She hides the ring in the dirt lying loose in a flowerpot. The plant on top just a ruse to get Jamie to get her hands dirty and find the damn thing. It’s a spur of the moment decision, really. But the idea had been running rampant in her mind for months now. She loves Jamie, she makes her so undeniably happy that even the slightest trickle of doubt has been washed away. 

But that was _before_ she proposed. Before she rambled on about not actually being able to get married and that this would be good enough for her. Before they kissed and had dinner and Jamie did the dishes while Dani cleaned up around the kitchen. Before the reality of it all came crashing down around her. 

Now she isn’t so sure anymore. Yes she wants to marry Jamie, yes she wants to be with her for the rest of her life. But how long is that going to be exactly? How long will she be Dani? How long does she have before Viola makes herself known? She doesn’t know. She will never know. 

She’d had had years of happiness, surely it wouldn’t be like this for much longer? Surely Viola will decide it was her turn now sometime soon? Surely- 

“Poppins, you alright over there?” Jamie’s voice is soft and laced with worry. 

Dani looks away from the two mugs of tea on the counter and realises she has been staring at them for way longer than necessary now, too lost in her own thoughts. 

“Yeah, I’m fine, just tired.” She hopes Jamie wouldn’t hear how her voice falters, how her hands tremble as she carries the tea over to the couch. 

“You don’t have to lie to me, Dani. I can see something’s bothering you.”

She sits down next to Jamie, tension high in her shoulders. “It’s just-” She wills her muscles to relax, forcing a sigh past her lips, “Would you be mad if I said it was cold feet?” She lets out a dry chuckle. 

“Come here, will ya?” Jamie murmurs and puts both hands on the side of Dani’s face when she’s close enough, turning it up so she can look her in the eyes.

“Either of us could tomorrow in some freak accident. And while that’s some shit luck, it’s got a higher chance of happening than the woman from the lake deciding she wants to be in control now. She’d been at the bottom of that pond for almost three centuries, so she doesn’t mind a bit of waitin’ I presume.” She’s quiet for a moment, looking pensive, “And even if it happens tomorrow, I still got to spend years and years with the woman I love, got her to propose to me. And that’s not something she can take away from me, from us. Ever. Do you understand me?”

Dani nods, not knowing what to say. 

“Good.” Jamie pulls her in closer, lets Dani put her head on her chest as she wraps her arms around her. “Then stop worrying ya pretty little head for a minute and lets bask in the fact that this moment is kind of perfect.” 

And Dani laughs, because it is. It is perfect. She curls further into Jamie’s embrace and nuzzles her neck. Jamie presses a kiss to the top of her head and Dani is happy. She’s content. And she will be for a very long time, she better be. 

_after_

  
Jamie is tired, the kind of tired that settles deep in your bones and makes you weary. And yet she doesn’t go to bed. Doesn’t curl up under the covers and _sleeps_. 

Instead she fills up the bathtub and the sink, stares into the mirror until she doesn’t recognise herself anymore. Then she unlocks and opens her door, and sits down in the chair right in front of it. 

Telling the story had been hard, but freeing at the same time. Letting others in on her life, no matter how much they all believed was true and what was made up. It didn’t matter. It hadn’t been about ghosts or haunted manors anyway. It was about Dani, had always been about Dani. 

And now that the story is over she’s back here, alone, the ache in her heart that’s been there since _that day_ didn't go away. It’s never really gone anyway but it feels lighter today, less crippling and more of a dull throb. 

So she lies her head on the armrest and looks at the stripe of light coming in from the hall, waiting for movement, a shadow, anything. But just like always, nothing happens. And after a while her eyes slip closed, falling into a dreamless sleep. 

Long after she’d drifted off, a hand falls to rest on her shoulder, thumb moving ever so slightly to sooth, to calm. Jamie might not feel her or be aware of her presence, but her dreams will be filled with Dani once again. Happy dreams. And while she won’t remember them when she wakes up, she never does, she will wake well rested. Feeling better than she has in years without knowing why. 

And Dani stands there as a small smile appears on Jamie’s lips, still fast asleep, and it’s enough. 

**Author's Note:**

> you can reblog this on tumblr [here](https://northernstarswriting.tumblr.com/post/631707509804171264/heavens-in-your-arms-where-i-know-im-safe) if you want!


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